>> well, soledad, as soon as mitt romney landed here in london for his overseas trip he found the controversy surrounding basically what has been hoped by his campaign as what they're calling a listen and learn tour. it has been sort of who said what in the last 24 hours as you mentioned that quote that appeared in an article in the london daily telegraph apparently or allegedly we might even want to say from an unnamed romney advisor and even though the international press could not independently verify whether or not that advisor even uttered those comments, the vice president and the obama campaign jumped on those comments and released a statement from vice president biden and put it up on the screen for you. he said not surprisingly in this statement this is just another feeble attempt by the romney campaign to score political points at the expense of this critical partnership, this assertion is beneath a presidential campaign. for his part mitt romney was asked about all of this in an interview with nbc and here is what he had to say. >> i am not sure who this person is. i can tell you that we have a very special relationship between the united states and great britain and it goes back to our very beginnings, cultural and historical, but i also believe that the president understands that, so i don't agree with whoever the advisor might be. >> and we should mention the romney campaign is flat out denying that this quote came from one of their advisers and even if it did it does not reflect the thoughts or opinions of mitt romney or the campaign. getting back to why mitt romney came here in the first place, he is meeting with british leaders and met with tony blair and the leader of the labor party, soledad, and what's interesting, he was asked by the foreign press whether or not he wanted to comment on what some of the policies are here overseas with respect to the economic policy, austerity, that program that has been of some controversy here in thu.k. he said he is not going to criticize the president while he is overseas and won't comment on the politics of other nations either. he is keeping it close to the vest. one thing we should note, he is going at 10downing street meeting with the current prime minister david cameron and may not highlight of the day and we'll hopefully see it when it happens, the olympic torch is actually going to be coming by right past 10 downing later this afternoon. >> there is a lot going on on the street where you are today. we appreciate it. thank you. in a few minutes we'll speak with a romney supporter, mike rogers of michigan will be my guest. first a look at the today's top stories and christine has that for us. >> good morning. new developments in the aftermath of theolorado movie theater massacre. law enforcement sources say the shooting suspect james holmes mailed a package to the university of colorado campus in aurora. it was received on monday, and it forced the evacuation of an entire building. cbs news says the package was addressed to a psychologist and contained a letter talking about shooting people and also contained scribblings showing a gunman shooting victims. aurora police say they're letting residents back into the apartment complex where the gunman lived, an apartment building that may have come down in flames had the suspect rigged the apartment with 30 ieds and 10 gallons of gasoline blew. more on the developments in a live report from aurora. battle lines in the gun control debate. president obama weighing in five days after the massacre in aurora. he told the national urban league last night he backs the second amendment and not when it comes to assault weapons. >> we recognize the traditions of gun ownership passed on from generation to generation and that hunting and shooting are part of a cherished national heritage and i also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that ak-47s belong in the hands of soldiers and not in the hands of criminals. >> they blame opposition in congress for lack of progress in reducing gun violence. the man behind this white knuckled motorcycle ride is now under arrest. this startling video exploded on youtube with a million hits since posted anonymously in april. 25-year-old randy scott recorded himself on the bike leeching speeds of 186 miles an hour and weaving in and out of traffic and he is charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle. the olympic torch is working its way to the site of tomorrow's opening ceremonies. today the olympic flame gets a royal welcome at buckingham palace. prince william, prince harry will be there when it panss through downing street and the u.s. secretary general is scheduled to run with the torch around parliament square. michael phelps will not march in tomorrow night's olympic games opening ceremony because he is scheduled to swim the opening heat of the 400 meter individual medley early saturday morning. phelps says starting early is one of the downfalls swimmers have to deal with and says he likes going first. he does plan to march in the closing ceremony, soledad. >> one of the downsides of being the olympic champion. all right. christine, thank you. as we told you earlier, mitt romney is in london. he is kicking off the overseas trip with several countries. when it comes to foreign policy, new poll, nbc poll shows that president obama is leading mitt romney when it comes to who would better handle the issues. 47% to 43 -- 32% rather. that brings us to congressman mike rogers of michigan, a supporter of governor romney's and advised the campaign on foreign policy and the chairman of the house intelligence committee. thanks for being with us. >> thanks for having me. >> let's talk about this foreign tour. can a foreign tour turn around a foreign policy impression in the poll that i just showed a moment ago you can see that the former governor is a little behind the president when it comes to impression of foreign policy credentials let's say. >> i think so. i think it is very important for the american people to see that mitt romney can have a dialog and on the world stage in some very serious strategic partnerships. great britain, really no better partner that we have and the canadians certainly rank right up there and you talk about israel and poland and all strategic important partnerships for the united states and all of those relationships have been strained by some i think missteps by this administration and i think having him there and having him have that dialog with senior leaders of all of those countries at a time when there are challenges is very important for the american public to see and mitt romney can handle the job as president when it comes to foreign policy. >> strategic and important as you say and i think many critics have said short on the details so far. he mentioned syria but really pretty much in passing. he was vague when it came to comments on iran and in london he was talking about the olympics and the weather and here is what he told brian williams when they started talking about israel. >> with regard to any nation that feels its security is at risk that they should have a firm conviction that america is securely behind them. i hope that people of israel feel that. >> do you think that's a fair criticism, that he has been painting with a very broad brush and it has been pretty light on the specifics so far? >> i do. i think he is respectful of what our very delicate circumstances and you need that in foreign policy debates. what he is referring to is the fact that israel doesn't believe that the united states is fully behind their notion that they're going to do everything to stop a nuclear program and more importantly neither does iran. because of that confusion, because of that lack of assertion of u.s. leadership, there have been some problems there with slowing down the nuclear program. i thought mitt romney was exactly right. he was reinforcing the point that this is the time for serious and strong leadership and the president does not talk about foreign policy often if hardly at all and in that lack of leadership on the world stage has consequences, and i think what mitt romney was referring to is some of those consequences for not showing u.s. leadership including the ability to maybe even avert israel from bombing iran, and all of that is at stake and in play and i think he is being exactly respectful as not the president of the united states but somebody who i think is trying to say we'll have a more certain, a more committed policy to making sure that iran and israel both believe that we're serious about iran not having a nuclear weapon program. >> as i am sure you know, every time there is a mass shooting and tragedy of conversation turns to gun control and this time after what happened in aurora is no different. this is what mitt romney has said about the second amendment. he said he believes in the second amendment. he thinks new laws wouldn't make a difference and went on to say this about hearts need to be changed. listen. >> we can sometimes hope that just changing the law will make all bad things go away. it won't. changing the heart of the american people may well be what's essential to improve the lots of the american people. >> what does that mean in the context of gun control, change the hearts of the american people when you look at the person who is alleged to have pulled off this crime and now is going to face trial for it? it seems i wasn't sure what he meant. >> i think he is talking about the broader problem. we have seen a surge in violent crime in our cities, gang crime up just in the city of chicago alone and about a weekend or two ago, 35 murders and there are things that we can do trying to point to one incident and one type of weapon isn't going to solve this problem. as a matter of fact, it was against the law to have a weapon in the movie think ter. colorado has very strict gun laws. we have two things here. how do we get after the violent crime that's happening in american cities today, a huge rise, and how do you deal with mentally ill individuals who are expressing themselves that they're going to commit this crime? those are two things and we saw this in the gabrielle giffords case. those are two things we can have some impact on. upped to intercede with the mentally ill early in the treatment and allow counselors to talk to police when they make those kinds of threats. >> and why not challenge gun laws at the same time? i would agree with that. i would say, yes, absolutely that's an issue and on a lot of fronts and wouldn't one of them be let's not sell ar-15s so a guy can order it online easily and have it delivered to his apartment? >> but, soledad, that's not what killed the individuals in the movie theater. that weapon didn't even function correctly. so that's the trick. that's what i think is dangerous about saying this type of weapon we don't like. if we focus all of our energy on that the problem will go away. that's not the problem. he was determined to kill people and he had plenty of weapons on him when he walked into that movie theater which was fwens the law already. it was against the law the way he purchased the weapons. it was already against the law. we ought to abandon that which is a false red herring and deal with the issue how would would intercede on that individual and, mr. president, you have lots of resources to help the urban centers crack down on what has been a rampant murder spree by street gangs in chicago and los angeles and new york and other places and here is my point, soledad, he wants you to focus on this one slice of it. there is a huge problem out there of which this president has resources to deal with. let's deal with those things. let's start dealing with the issues that are taking these folks off of the street before they find some way to kill a whole bunch of people. >> let's deal with specifically what mitt romney said which is what i am trying to dig into. he said changing the hearts of american people. don't worry about the gun laws, bringing the gun into the movie theater was illegal anyway. if we could change people's hearts, that's a better strategy. i am confused by that. >> i think what he is talking about is, listen, this pervasive attitude that anything goes and everything is okay and i think is having a toll certainly on american decisions that are being made. street gangs going wild in the city. >> how would that make a difference in a shooting that took the lives of 12 people and injured 58 others? i guess i am just trying to connect what he is saying to this particular aurora shooting. >> i think you're focused on the wrong end of that conversation. i think he was basically trying to say, listen, there are things we can do to intercede. you can intercede early with somebody who has the mental health issues who is clearly reaching out and trying to say i am going to do this and somebody help me. that didn't happen. that's how you stop something like that. what he is saying is, listen, if we turn around urban employment in this country, i think it has a major impact on what's happening in the streets of places like chicago and los angeles and other places where violent crimes, soledad, is going through the roof and we're not paying attention to it. we're trying to say if we change the gun law, i got to tell you, nobody believes that you can have another gun law in colorado or chicago which has very strict gun laws. that's not going to solve the problem. let's focus on solving the problem, and i think that's what mitt romney was talking about. this is a holistic approach to getting at these problems. one of them is you have to get people back to work. when he is talking about turning hearts, i think he is trying to say we need to change the way people think about this anything goes violent mentality, and all of those things can be impacted with the right leadership. >> congressman mike ronkers. nice to see you. thanks for talking with us. one thing i want to clarify. you mentioned that this was i think you were referring to a young man clearly reaching out with mental health issues and i know you know that none of that yet has actually been determined. we're still waiting to get information from both the attorneys and mental health officials. >> well, he mailed the package. i think that was a clear sign, at least one clear sign that he was reaching out as an old investigator. >> unclear what's in that so i don't want to go out on a limb and say things we have not confirmed were in the package. thank you for your time. piers morgan is going to sit down with mitt romney and ann romney tonight as well will be his guests and ahead on "starting point" facebook is about to deliver its first earnings report after the big mess of a public offering. will wall street click like on it or not? our get real north korea insulted at the olympics. already? the flag flat that forced the team to walk out. you're watching starting point and back in a moment. [ male announcer ] research suggests the health of our cells plays a key role throughout our entire lives. ♪ one a day men's 50+ is a complete multi-vitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age. ♪ it has more of seven antioxidants to support cell health. that's one a day men's 50+ healthy advantage. to support cell health. you see us, at the start of the day. on the company phone list that's a few names longer. you see us bank on busier highways. on once empty fields. everyday you see all the ways all of us at us bank are helping grow our economy. lending more so companies and communities can expand, grow stronger and get back to work. everyday you see all of us serving you, around the country, around the corner. us bank. every communications provider is different but centurylink is committed to being a different kind of communications company. ♪ we link people and fortune 500 companies nationwide and around the world. and we will continue to free you to do more and focus on what matters. welcome back to "starting point." minding your business, facebook reports earnings after the closing bell this afternoon. the company will show how it plans to make money through advertising and the global app. stock is down about 23% since the day it became a public company. in the markets u.s. stock features turned higher. we're looking at earnings reports and economic data on top and a fresh look at theobs market next hour with the initial jobless claims report and the usda says food prices will increase because of the drought across the country and it is not just for staple it is like beef, veel, corn and soybeans. all the products will go up, too, like cats up, barbecue sauce and ramen noodles and cup cakes. those are the down the aisle costs. >> major new development in colorado this morning. a package from the ald movie theater shooter james holmes was discovered in the mail room at the university of colorado. brings us to ed live in aurora this morning. ed, what can you tell us about this package. >> reporter: if you remember a couple days ago it was a monday there was a package that was found in the mail room at the university of colorado that cause the several buildings to be evacuated briefly as bomb technicians and investigators tried to figure out if there was something hazardous in it. they went there bause it actually turned out to be a package james holmes sent to a psychology professor according to a law enforcement source we spoke with. cbs is reporting inside that package there was a spiral notebook that contained writings from holmes talking about wanting to kill people and also some drawings showing a gunman killing his victims. so the psychologist clearly investigators taking a closer look at that chilling spiral notebook that arrived in the mail room at the university of colorado on nday. >> now we're learning more about the academic background of the suspect. what do we know about both him as a student and sort of his abilities academically? >> it is interesting. he received this prestigious grant to study at the university of colorado to get into this neuroscience program, one of only six students that received it. we have learned a source tells cnn that toward the end of the semester he had done poorly on one of his final exams. all of this happening at the same time that we have learned from other law enforcement sources that this is about the time that he was amassing his arsenal of weaponry, the four guns used in the shooting as well as the explosive material found in his apartment. so clearly investigators and psychologists taking a look at what happened here in the last few months if it was that exam or anything around this time period in his life that triggered what happened here. >> we continue to ask questions on the why of why this happened. thank you for the update. appreciate it. still ahead on "starting point," a bizarre moment in olympic history. we'll tell you why the north korean women's soccer team refused to take the field. that's get real this morning and the starting point is heading in. they're not refusing to take the field. we have mark ergos and roland martin and will cain. >> he told me i look like a right writer. >> i don't know what that means. . but hurry before this opportunity...disappears. the mercedes-benz summer event ends july 31st. the [romney singing]: oh event beautiful, for spacious skies, i'm barack obama and i approve this message. for amber waves of grain, for purple mountains majesty, above the fruited plain, america, america, god shed his grace on thee, and crowned thy good, with brotherhood... [ female announcer ] weak, damaged hair needs new aveeno nourish+ strengthen. active naturals wheat formulas restore strength for up to 90% less breakage in three washes. for strong, healthy hair with life, new aveeno nourish+ strengthen. we take it on ours. this summer put your family in an exceptionally engineered mercedes-benz w for an exceptional price during the summer event. but hurry, this offer ends july 31st. welcome back to "starting point." a quick couple of headlines for you. penn state's legal troubles mounting this morning, the university's primary general liability insurer filed a motion claiming insurance coverage should be denied because the school failed to disclose what it knew about jerry sandusky's behavior. the mother of baseball legend cal ripken jr. is back home safe this morning after being abducted. police say an armed gunman showed up in her home early tuesday morning, forced her into her car and took her, took off with her. she was found in the backseat of her car with her hands tied but we're toldhe is safe and sound this morning. >> what a horrific thing. >> just terrifying. >> christine, thank you. so good to hear she is back fine. our team this morning, we're joined by mark geragos, a criminal defense attorney and looking a little like johnny cash today. >> roland martin is the host of washington watch with roland martin and looking like roland martin this morning with a pocket square happening. >> it is more like a shower cap. let me show you. you need a little color. you need color today. >> i do need some color. i don't know that i need a shower cap. >> will is so happy today he is not the target. >> target? >> look at that, totally changes the outfit. >> i like it. let's move on. get real this morning, we have seen screw ups like this before. remember the time the version of the kazakhstan anthem was played for an athlete at a ceremony in kuwait and the athlete took it well and smiled and kept her head down and this is a bigger blunder, i think. it happened at the london olympics, the north korean women's soccer team refused to take the field after the flag of south koreaas being displayed on the big screen next to the players. they eventually did return when the mistake was rectified and the match started late and the olympic organizers apologized proceed fusely. i wonder, is that it? can you imagine? >> i have to disagree about one thing. i don't think it is a bigger mistake of playing thebore at version of the kazakhstan anthem. >> let's see. >> the london olympics. >> not really the best of friends. >> i think it might be. i think it might be. i don't kn. i fully support the north korean team in not taking the field. what do you do? you can't go on. >> right. >> it is your flag. it is your country. >> it is a national insult. an insult to the north koreans, right. >> it is the olympic games. politics aside, it is the olympic games. >> imagine if they put the cuban flag up for the american team, do you really think they will take it? oh, we'll just step on the field. >> i agree. that's get real. >> it is going to be a long day with will cain this morning, i can tell already. still ahead on "starting point" a top ranked high school is hit with a civil rights complaint. we'll talk about the legality of this and they purposely shut out black and latino students and a weather alert to tell you about, the threat of severe thunderstorms in the northeast and possibly even some tornados and it is not the coughing and sneezing passengers on the airplane you should worry about, it is where the plane is taking off from. the airport that is most likely to spread disease. you're watching "starting point" and we're back in a moment. male spirit present.trong it's the priceline negotiator. >>what? >>sorry. he wants you to know about priceline's new express deals. it's a faster way to get a great hotel deal without bidding. pick one with a pool, a gym, a great guest rating. >>and save big. >>thanks negotiator. wherever you are. ya, no. he's over here. >>in the refrigerator? and deposits at the same time. for paying your friend back for lunch...from your tablet. for 26 paydays triggered with a single tap. for checking your line, then checking your portfolio. for making atms and branches appear out of thin air. simple to use websites, tools, and apps. for making your financial life a little bit easier. 8% every 10 years.age 40, we can start losing muscle -- wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. 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[ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! welcome back, everybody. get right to christine romans with an update on the top stories this morning. hey, christine. >> good morning, soledad. parched land proving futile for wildfires. fires burning across lawton, oklahoma, about 100 homes threaten and had in arkansas it forced the evacuation of a small town and they're worried about strong winds pushing flames into a fireworks warehouse. severe thunderstorms and even tornados possible today in the northeast. let's get a quick check of the weather with rob marciano. >> good morning, christine. storms are firing from chicago up to the great lakes to michigan and southern ontario and even western pennsylvania and this is just kind of a preshow to the big show later on this afternoon as that heat and humidity that's been building across the central plains makes its way to the northeast and this storm system strong for late july will be the trigger that sets off thunderstorms some of which will have damaging winds and large hail and a few may have isolated tornados and that threat extends from cincinnati to springfield, massachusetts so be on the alert. the heat before that will be substantial as well. 101 in d.c. and 91 in new york city. >> thanks for the warning, rob. new video may show two young girls on the day they went missing nearly two weeks ago in evansdale, iowa. the sheriff believes 2010-year-old lyric cook and her 8-year-old cousin elizabeth collins are seen on this grainy surveillance tape riding their bikes. investigators believe the girls are still alive. your house call medicaid expansion could be a life saver. a stew study from harvard says expanding medicaid coverage could help people live longer and prevent thousands of deaths. the lead author is now advising the department of health and human services carrying out the health care overall report. the lesson, don't go through airport security barefoot. researchers at m.i.t. ranked the top airports for spreading disease. they looked at travel patterns, locations, time spend waiting in lane. number one, jfk in new york, l.a.x. number two and honolulu international ranked third. i am not sure it is barefoot. i think it is because of the people there. >> and what do you do if you have to go through with no shoes on. >> you have to go through. >> an extra pair of socks in the bag. >> really? in that time you have while you sprint for the plane you will carry an extra pair of socks. >> i got it. i am not walking on those nasty floors. >> thanks, christine. appreciate it. this morning we were talking about the thomas jefferson high school for science and technology in virginia and it is considered to be one of the best magnet schools in the country. it is ranked the number two high school by u.s. news and world report and tenth by "newsweek." a federal civil rights complaint says they're shutting out minority students. this incoming freshman class is just 2.7% latino, 1.4% black, and tina home is the founder and executive director of the coalition of silence and her group filed the complaint with the department of ed this week and she is a former member of the fairfax county school board. it is nice to see you. why this lawsuit and why now? these number that is are bad in terms of minority students getting access to this top tier school have been bad for a while. >> they have been bad for 30 years. when i served on the school board, we got an annual report every year about it. ij and in that report there was always at least some hand wringing about the dearth of african-american and la teen on kids in the kill. this year when they had the work session the tone was different. >> how so? >> the tone this time was about allegations that have recently been brought forward by teachers and members of the t.j. community that because of the focus if you will on black and latino admissions and t.j. and changes to the admissions process to try to increase the diversity that in fact we ended up in a situation where 25% of the kids at t.j. need remediation and i say remediation with quo marks because i think so they use the term to terrify the community and in fact the remediation is very high level math remediation, not arithmetic, and the other reason i think one of the things about the statement is that juxtapositioning an allegation that so much focus on diversity that we ended up with a hopelessly flawed admissions system and by the way 25% of the kids need remediation, it suggests that it is -- >> more diverse means the school is getting worse. that's what they're trying to say. >> or just do the math. about 1,700 kids in t.j. and fewer than 100 or black or latina. there is no way that less than 100 kids are bringing it down. >> the school says this, basically a pipeline issue. here is the statement. aggressive outreach efforts have been used in an effort to improve representation among african-american and hispanic students and the efforts resulted in a significant increase in applications. however, the admission rate for those under represented populations remain a concern and we recognize more work needs to be done. why is that response not enough for you? >> one, if you saw the type of outreach that they're talking about, i don't think they would be proud to show it on cnn. >> what's the average? >> there was a film at the same work session and i talk about this work session because the coalition had not made a decision to file this complaint until we attended that work session. nearly every member of our board attended the work session. at the work session they played a tape to purportedly to show these are the kids that we are trying to reach who are under represented. the majority of the kids on the film were not under represented minorities. there was one african-american child on the film. she was barely audible, and when asked what do you care about math or science, she goes i want to be a nurse. for me as an african-american and my mother is black and my father came from yugoslavia, to see that and see our school system put this forward to the school board and public as proof that it was reaching out effectively to these communities, i was deeply offended by that. >> we have a panel of lawyers here. roland, before i get to you to mark. i want to talk about the legal things and we'll get to you in a second. do you think a lawsuit is an effective vehicle for making these kinds of social changes? i mean, it sounds to me like the issue has been there for 30 years and trying to figure out how do you move the needle on actually changing the racial makeup of this school? >> i don't think there is any other way. you wouldn't be having her on if they hadn't filed the lawsuit. it wouldn't be getting into the public consciousness, so i think it is the right thing to do. sounds like on the face of it that they have a problem. >> and it is important. it is not a lawsuit. it is a complaint filed with the department of education and the process is the department of education has to look at the allegations and determine whether or not there is enough for them to open an investigation. >> interestingly, the school has been the subject of a lawsuit regarding race and admissions just nine years ago. they were sued for apparently using race as a factor in admissions and the fact that the allegation buzz that white students were being discriminated against, that the school was over admitting equally qualified students based on race, right f you're black and white and you have equal qualifications the minority students were getting access more readily than the white students. >> what was the rate back then nine years ago. >> i think 11 students african-american. >> out of 1700, that was the over representation. >> no, no. >> 10 of the 11 were admitted were admittance rate of equally qualified students of other races was much lower. >> so nine years ago it was 11 out of in a class of how many. >> 1,700. >> and that was over representation? >> i don't think you're understanding me. >> the argument is given the number of black and latino kids who applied compared to the number of white and asian kids who apply a farce higher percentage of black and latino kids purportedly equally qualify forgetting into the school. >> the absolute numbers are you -- >> the numbers are only stunning in that they're terrible numbers if you're looking at how minorities are going to get into and succeed. >> how is the school and using race in admissions and we will have this debate very soon at the national level. >> you often find the reverse is true. there is a large asian population and you will often discover the white students that feel like they're losing their spots are actually losing their spots because asian students are not getting in. the asian students are not getting access who have excellent grades and are being left out to keep those numbers to a certain level. we have seen that certainly. >> and for people at home to understand why this is a value, i went to a magnet school. magnet schools typically are given greater resources than traditional schools. also, the specialized schools, college recruiters are targeting these schools. you talk about who is getting full rides when it comes to engineering programs and they're going to schools like this here. if you're african-american and shut out of these schools and not getting those scholarships so you're not getting that opportunity as well. it is much deeper than i just can't get in. >> and much deeper than high school and really is middle school and it really is elementary school, all of those things. it is a pipeline in a way that no one is fixing. >> absolutely. that's one of the flaws with the response from the fairfax county school system. their response talks about we're doing outreach. if all they have to show for their efforts to try to increase diversity of t.j. is they have done a few videos and visited a few schools, we will never solve the problem. we don't solve the problem by focusing on the admissions process. we solve the problem by dealing with an separate and inherently unequal network of level four highly gifted centers that operate this. >> this is a fascinating conversation obviously depending on what happens with this complaint. we'll continue the conversation. we appreciate you talking to us about it. >> thanks so much. >> we have to take a break. still ahead, a cnn exclusive. i sit down with three stars chasing the go would in london this summer. 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with over 25 delicious flavors for a fraction of the cost of the coffee house. add your flavor, with coffee-mate, from nestle. welcome back to "starting point." the olympic opening ceremonies will happen tomorrow in london. to celebrate nike affiliate jordan brand launched a campaign called rise above. it is a series of videos, nicely done. look at the obstacles that other people had to overcome to rise above circumstances. here is one athlete. >> you always want to come out on top and prove to people you're not handicappehandicappe. for somebody to respect me as a basketball player, it is like the greatest compliment i can get. when you do something that you love, it is something that is inside you. >> get a chance to check these out. they're nicely done. three of the most successful basketball players are around are part of the apple contain and i had a chance at that tuck too carmelo anthony, chris bawl and maya moore, a foward for the minnesota linx. >> what is it like to be back under a college coach? is it any different in all? >> this is our third time around. like chris said, we have been together since 2006 when we lost in the world championship. he could have easily just gave it up there and said i don't want to deal with this no more. he came back and he made it a point that we were going to come back and redeem ourselves in 2008. he had the best players in the world on that team as well and we all bought into what he wanted to do which is win a gold medal. we all checked our egos at the door and said that wasn't nobody big on this than the other person on this team. once everybody checked their egos, the rest is history. >> do they really check their egos. >> really, really. >> really? >> the reason we are all as good as we are is because they all do have an ego. have you to be confident and not arrogant. that's what makes everyone the best at what they do. i am sure you're the same way. >> me? i don't know what you're talking about. >> you're the best at what you do. >> i don't know what you're talking about and none of the people have comment that work with me. talking about arrogance, let's go right to kobe bryant's quote, the 2012 team is younger and more athletic than the dream team. >> i am getting tired of hearing that. i mean, just the comparison is like we were never duplicate what the dream team did. what the dream team did in '92, we will never duplicate that. not even on the basketball club or what they was able to accomplish off the court and th the way they changed the game, changed the way the world looked at us as basketball players. we can't do that no more. it's already -- that ground is already there. >> let's talk a little bit about what's been said about your game, maya. her steal is faster than the strike of a rattle snake. >> that's mean. >> reaching for a ball, i think. yeah. that's what they tell me. that's fun. you know, just to be able to be appreciated. >> wearing him down with the modesty. talking about the ego. go back to that. >> if i want the ball, i'll take it. >> what can i say? i have never had to respond being compared to a rattle snake. >> one, two, three. >> good job! >> chris paul. >> do you feel pressure going to the olympic games? is it different than the pressure being in the nba? >> the pressure is condensed in the olympics. >> what do you mean? >> meaning that in the nba, you have 82 games. we play each other four times a year. some teams two times a year. in the olympics, it's one time. you know, we play a game. then you've got to prepare yourself for the next game. the next country. and that one game might be totally different than the game that you just played. so you have to be mentally prepared for being able to switch like that. it's totally two different teams and two different situations. you have 24 hours, 48 hours to prepare for a different country. and you don't know what's being thrown at you. >> i did win a world championship, an nba championship. and everybody -- like if i was to win one, l.a. would love it. california would love it. now if we was to beat the knicks in the championship, new york wouldn't be happy for me. you know? they would be mad. but when you win a -- >> yes, we would. >> when you win a gold medal, everybody in the united states of america is cheering for one team. one team. they are not mad at anybody. that's what's crazy about this whole experience, that everybody really comes together. >> it's so interesting to talk to them about what -- we chatted right before they were headed out to the olympics about what they are going to expect. and they are just so confident and ready to win. maya moore was much more humble, if you will. they are like, no, no, maya. here's what you need to do. they said her strategy should be, give me the ball and get out of the way. and all of them played basketball with my boy, who i brought on the shoot because it was on a weekend. and they were helping charlie and jackson who were there. >> keep in mind when it comes to olympic basketball, the united states has dominated. i mean, flat out. and so they walk in saying, it's gold medal or nothing else. of course, that's just how we think. >> a bronze is a loss. >> oh, yeah. >> it's an insult. >> nba players? oh, yes. they want to be able to come back home. >> what's cool, at least for carmelo and chris paul, guys that make in the $10 million to $20 million range a year, and they are going to play basketball for free for country and patriotism, risking injury, risking -- well, look what happened with blake griffin. he went and got injured while he was there. >> and let's keep in mind they are playing for free. the u.s. olympic committee, they are getting paid by all the corporate sponsors. and dwyane wade and the other players say, look, you guys are getting this big cut. i'm just saying. so somebody is getting paid, but not the players. >> i'm not worried about any of them. not a single one, roland. the money that they are making. >> you got skills, get paid for it, baby. >> tomorrow, we'll have part two of my day with carmelo and chris and maya. they'll talk about how their childhoods helped them become the players th they are today. 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[romney singing]: oh beautiful, for spacious skies, i'm barack obama and i approve this message. for amber waves of grain, for purple mountains majesty, above the fruited plain, america, america, god shed his grace on thee, and crowned thy good, with brotherhood... begins with back pain and a choice. take advil, and maybe have to take up to four in a day. or take aleve, which can relieve pain all day with just two pills. good eye. welcome, everybody. our "starting point" this morning, a chilling find in a college mail room. a message from the accused aurora shooter hinting at a massacre. after the mass shooting, president obama puts one foot in dangerous political territory. listen. >> ak-47s belong this the hands of soldiers. not in the hands of criminals. >> weighing in on gun control. what he said and whether he should say more. a fast food fight. a city leader says no to chick-fil-a. and a class act on the course. phil mickelson will join us. it's thursday, july 26. and "starting point" beginning right now. ♪ when i die ♪ i may not go to the heaven ♪ i don't know if they let cowboys in ♪ >> this is dick armey's play list. this is tanya tucker, "when i die." i knew will cain would get a laugh out of that. >> will is a texan. >> i know he is. >> that one didn't make my country play list. >> listen to it. it may grow on us. mark geragos is joining our panel this morning. he has represented michael jackson. and we need to talk about that drama in just a minute. >> i may duck out on that. >> oh, well -- >> you duck out, yeah, right, right. >> roland martin is with us as well. nice to see you. and will cain. let's get right to our "starting point." we are talking about the aftermath of the massacre in aurora, colorado. gun control obviously becoming a very hot topic on the campaign trail. he waited five full days to enter the fray, but president obama is now front and center in the didebate saying yesterday tt some weapon sales need to be restricted. >> i like most americans believe that the second amendment guarantees an individual the right to bear arms. but i also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that ak-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals. >> mitt romney doesn't see it the same way. he is in london for that seven-day foreign trip. he says that gun control laws would do little to stop the massacre like the one happened in colorado. >> i don't happen to believe that america needs new gun laws. a lot of what this young man did was clearly against the law. but the fact that it was against the law did not prevent it from happening. >> mitt romney is on the world stage in london on the eve of the olympic opening ceremonies. he just arrived at 10 downing street, talking about some of the problems that organizers have had prior to the start of the games. and looking to remind people that back home, he was once an olympic saviour. jim acosta is live for us in london this morning. jim, good morning to you. >> reporter: good morning, soledad. that is right. and mitt romney has just arrived at number 10 downing street here in london to meet with prime minister david cameron. the prime minister arrived about an hour ago. and the former massachusetts governor walked right past us, soledad, into the door behind me and went right in. stopped for a few moments to pose for the british press to take his photograph. i asked him just very briefly how are you doing, he said he's fine, and then marched right in for this meeting. we're hoping to hear from him when he comes out of the meeting to get his thoughts as to how the conversation went with the prime minister. but, soledad, if this overseas trip for mitt romney could be described as an olympic event, it might be the decathlon. he is performing in a number of different events on this overseas trip. earlier this morning, he was meeting with former prime minister tony blair. the opposition leader, the leader of the labour party, here. and you might say that in one of those events, he might have stumbled a little bit, if you might want to call that the diplomatic hurdles. the london press is seizing on comments that romney made about the olympics and the preparations here in london. he was talking in an interview with nbc's brian williams when he said it was disconcerting to see some of the problems that london has had here in preparing for the olympics. and then he sort of walked back some of those comments earlier this morning when he was asked about it by the forseign press. here's what he had to say. >> my experiences with the olympics is that it is impossible for absolutely no mistakes to occur. of course there will be errors from time to time. but those are all overshadowed by the extraordinary demonstrations of courage, character, and determination by the athletes. the games are, after all, about the athletes, the volunteers, and the people of the community that come together to celebrate those athletes. they are not about the organizing committee. and as soon as the sporting events begin, we all forget the organizers and focus on the athletes. >> reporter: now of course mitt romney has some expertise in the area of organizing the olympic games. he is widely credited with rescuing the salt lake city games in 2002. so it's not surprising that mitt romney would talk about the preparations here in london. and the campaign was asked about those comments that he made to nbc, and the campaign directed the press to his comments that he made this morning, which did not sound as critical. but, soledad, right now taking a peek at the front page of the london "daily telegraph's" website. the headline on the front page for that newspaper is all about mitt romney's comments on the olympic preparations here in london. it will be interesting to see how that develops. and i should note there's a cat behind me. should we mention this? you don't see this every day, soledad. a stray cat has wandered up to number 10 downing street. >> and is trying to get in. >> and that's getting almost as much attention from the foreign press as mitt romney's entry a few moments ago. >> jim, thank you. i appreciate it. >> reporter: i'll put out a saucer of milk. >> help a cat out. let's bring in dick armey, the former house majority leader, and now the chairman of freedom works, considered by many to be the godfather of the tea party. joining us this morning. nice to see you. thank you for joining us. we appreciate it. >> well, thank you. >> let's talk a little bit about gun control, which has been one of the topics we've been discussing all morning. back in '94, the house approved a ban on 19 different types of semiautomatic weapons and you were against the ban. here is what mitt romney has said in the wake of the shooting in aurora. he said he supports the second amendment. he doesn't think the laws need to be changed. and he went on to say this. >> well, we can sometimes hope that just changing the law will make all bad things go away. it won't. changing the heart of the american people may well be what's essential to improve the lots of the american people. >> what you think he meant by that? >> it's hard for me to understand because, you know, there's so much discussion on this subject. but, you know, the fact of the matter is that we have got a culture right now that seems to say, let's control the guns and have all kinds of laxities and forgiveness and understanding and so forth for the people who hold the guns. my own view is let's get tough on criminals, have tough penalties for the illegal use of weaponry or any other illegal activity that's an asailment against another person. get tough on those folks. crack down on them. and then allow people the second amendment rights we are titled into in this country that we enjoy for hunting and recreational purposes. and in fact, unfortunately because of the laxness with which we treat criminals in the country, we feel compelled that we must have our own weapons sometimes for our own defense. >> but if you look specifically at the aurora case, right, i don't think anybody would say it was laxness with criminals that if in fact -- of course, he is a suspect at this point -- if in fact he ends up being convicted of doing what he is alleged to have done, i don't think people are going to say, well, there was a laxness in the culture that led to the aurora shooting. people might say it was the easy accessibility for someone who wanted to amass and stockpile weapons over a short period of time to plot out a mass shooting, and that should be blamed. >> all right. let's say first of all apparently you have some guy who is a bit nutty here. and he wanted to wreak havoc on a large number of people for whatever reasons he had. we don't understand that yet. maybe a psychiatrist will understand it. if in fact he had not been capable of acquiring the guns, he might just as well have taken a car and driven it into a school bus. the fact of the matter is, again, you can't focus on the object by which a destruction is committed, be it a hammer, gun, a truck, or a car. focus on the aberance in the individuals that do that. >> why not focus on both? why not focus on the individual and also on the weapon? >> why not focus on both? >> yeah. >> all right. more people are killed in automobiles every year than with guns. i don't hear anybody talking about banning automobiles. >> but they say you have to wear a seat belt, all right? >> ok. >> you have to have a driver's license. >> all right. i have to tell you, we are guaranteed by the constitution of the united states a right to bear arms. there are many good reasons why true and honest and law-abiding people cherish that right. to trespass that right against those innocent people because of the abhorrent behavior of others is not acceptable. it's like taking away scholarships of future football players for the bad offenses of a past football plan. stay focused on the perpetrators and get tough on the perpetrators, and let people know there are awesomely difficult consequences that will come to you for your perpetration, and they will perpetrate less. >> let's talk about the election for a moment, because i do believe we could focus on gun control issues all day, and we're just going to agree to disagree on that. last summer, you sounded incredibly underwhelmed by a mitt romney candidacy. and you said that the tea party will not come out for mitt romney. has that changed? >> i never said that they would never come out for mitt romney. let's say -- first of all, you have to understand this massive grass roots movement that we have that we're working with and to which we all have an enormous event here in dallas today have been disappointed in both the republicans and the democrats. we have been about the business of recruiting what we call legislative entrepreneurs in the guise of liberty and small government. and we are going to be getting them elected. but we are all aware that the greatest threat to constitutionally limited small government and personal liberty that we see active in politics in america today is president obama. i mean, this guy is -- in fact, we see him clearly. he is obsessed with controlling the distribution of income, the distribution of product, the behavior of people, the allocation of capital resources to goofy social causes that are inspired by bad science and bad finance. and we know that it is not -- >> i'm just going to go on a limb and say tea party people are not going to vote for obama, which is why i asked you a question about mitt romney. you were incredibly unenthusiastic about his candidacy not very long ago. so what's changed? and is in fact the tea party going to embrace romney? >> he is the republican nominee. he is the one person in the position to defeat obama. we have no doubt he is an enormous upgrade in the quality of intellectual understanding of america, economic enterprise, economic growth, sound policy, restraint of government. the difference between romney and obama is incredible. is romney everything we would hope to have? no. but is president obama proven to be everything we were afraid he might be? yes. so, obviously, if you get 180 degree turn-around and you get a romney that's not perfectly in agreement with us as opposed to a president obama who is openly contemptious of our values, then clearly we've made a big turn-around by working for it. and i tell you, the grassroots activists across this country known as the tea party activists will work diligently for romney because a 180-degree turn-around is a big change, and we will have removed what we perceive to be the biggest threat to our liberty in the history -- in our lifetime in the presidency of barack obama. >> an endorsement, not exactly an enthusiastic one, but an endorsement nonetheless. dick armey, thank you for being with us this morning. christine romans has the top stories this morning. >> new developments to tell you about in the aftermath of the aurora shooting. sources say that the james holmes mailed a package to the university of colorado campus in aurora. it was received on monday and forced the evacuation of an entire building. cbs news says the package was addressed to a psychologist and contained a letter talking about shooting people, along with scribbling showing a gunman shooting victims. and there were moments that seemed like hours. emergency dispatch tapes released from chaotic minutes after the shooter opened fire. >> metro 10, lincoln 25, do i have permission to start taking some of these victims via car? i got a whole bunch of people shot out here and no ambulances. >> p.d. is again requesting emergency medical to the back of the theater. >> i copy that. i'm just trying to get things under control here. the senate has passed a democratic plan to extend the bush era tax cuts for middle class americans. at the same time, they rejected a republican alternative to continue all of the cuts for even the wealthiest americans. >> the american people got a ray of hope today that they are going to be protected. and i think we confuse the issue when we start looking at who might win, who might lose. right now, it's a big day for america. >> a big day. but despite reid's enthusiasm, their plan has zero chance of getting through the republican-controlled house. michael jackson's mother is responding to reports that she has been kidnapped. surrounded by family members, she appeared on abc's "frontline" from tucson, arizona, and said she is just fine. >> there are rumors going around about me that i've been kidnapped and held against my will. i'm here today to let everybody know that i'm fine, and i'm here with my children, and my children would never do a thing like that, hold me against my will. it's very stupid for people to think that. >> she's doing all the talking there. but abc was not allowed to ask mrs. jackson any questions. a missing persons report was filed last week after michael's children said they hadn't heard from katherine. she is their legal guardian. they said they hadn't heard from her since july 15 and were unable to contact her. a california judge has appointed tj jackson to serve as guardian. and cnn is now confirming that katherine jackson has returned to her home in california after driving nine hours from arizona. and that video you saw there was from "nightline," not "frontline." >> what's going on with this? come on. >> pure craziness. i talked to marlin jackson yesterday. he said his brother randy said that his mom was somewhere else, and he had to find out through another source where his mom actually was. so when your brother can't tell you where your mom is, you have some serious family drama. >> is it the family split in two? >> this is like split in 10. you have nine kids. you have nieces and nephews. you have drama. you have paris with 600,000 followers on twitter. she is out there tweeting. it's total chaos. >> 14 years old. >> total chaos. >> what do you think, mark? >> as i said, i'm going to duck it. >> mark geragos actually ducking a question. >> i'm not going anywhere near it. >> mark, step up. come on. >> no, no, no. >> give us something. >> you know, i'll just say, it's a big family. lovely family. and, you know, there's always dysfunction in any family. >> who put the fun in dysfunctional, that's what we love to say. still ahead on "starting point," the man who built one of the biggest banks in the world is saying break them up, calling for more regulation. we'll talk about that straight ahead as "starting point" continues. floor with the guy! not really. i would've been fine with 0% for 36 months, but i demanded 60. no...i didn't do that. it was like taking candy from a baby. you're a grown man. alright, see you at home. 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[ male announcer ] at 0% apr for 60 months, no one needs to know how easy it was to get your new volkswagen. that's the power of german engineering. mine was earned off vietnam in 1968. over the south pacific in 1943. i got mine in iraq, 2003. usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection, and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve. mornings are a special time for the two of you...) and now you can make them even more special... with new fancy feast mornings. mornings are delicious protein rich entrées... with garden veggies and egg. each one perfectly designed... to start her day with a little love. new fancy feast mornings gourmet cat food. the best ingredient is love. welcome back to "starting point." it is the ultimate wall street flip flop. some former ceos of the world's largest banks are now saying that the banks are too bigo fail. the latest citigroup ceo is saying this. that's a shocker. he is the guy who sort of was the poster child -- >> the pioneer. >> when you look this up in the dictionary, his face is right there. >> hell has frozen over and pigs are flying because the godfather of big megabanks is saying, wait a minute, maybe we should separate investment banking from personal banking. sandy weill. >> why the change now? >> well, listen to what he said on cnbc. >> so i think what we should probably do is go and split up investment banking from banking and have banks do something that's not going to risk the taxpayer dollars, that's not going to be too big to fail. >> he says the world is different today than it was 10 years ago, and it deserves a different kind of a system i guess. when you talk about big banks, ceos flip flop, another person got a lot of attention this week. phil purcell, former ceo of morgan stanley. he said there's one benefit of break-ups that hasn't gotten much publicity. shareholders would get greater value for their investments. breaking these companies into separate businesses would double to triple the shareholder value of each institution. so you're hearing from people who have long been champions of big banks, financial market innovation, financial supermarket, who are now saying maybe shareholders would benefit even from breaking up banking. >> i have written about this. we have talked about this. and you have seen some pushback from people identified as nservatives or libertarians to breaking up banks. but the largest banks are government subsidized entities. if you're going to socialize your losses, you can't exist that way. if you're too big to fail, you're too big to exist. >> why? i'm a naturally suspicious person. and to me, when i hear sandy weill saying the opposite of something he said 10 years ago, it's not like it's 100 years ago -- >> and what you did caused the change. so don't say the world has change said. changing that law is what changed the world. >> a lot of conventional wisdom over the past 10 or 15 years is shunted aside, because the conventional wisdom led to the financial crisis, right? you even heard -- i wish i could remember exacy the percentage he said. but allan green span said in a congressional hearing something of the effect, i was right 70% of the time. and i thought if you were a plumber on or journalist right 70% of the time, you wouldn't have a job. all of the conventional wisdom now is breaking down. >> it's crazy. >> i'm with you. >> we've got to take a break. >> something's up. up next, today's "tough call." a city leader says he'll keep chick-fil-a out of his town over its anti-gay marriage stance. can we really do that? we'll debate that straight ahead. i'm serious, we compare our direct rates side by side to find you a great deal, even if it's not with us. 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[siri] i'll try to remember that. today's "tough call," the chick-fil-a controversy version 2.0. chicago's alderman says unless they come up with an anti-discrimination plan, he will prevent them from coming into his ward. on chick-fil-a's side is rick santorum. on his facebook page, santorum asked americans to, quote, fight for traditional families and eat chicken at the same time. >> first of all, let me say this. on chick-fil-a's side is not just rick santorum. this is not even about what your position is on gay marriage. i support gay marriage. but this is a blatant, easy, open and shut case of a first amendment rights violation in chicago. >> all they are doing is trying to regulate this guy's speech. and that's all it is. and they are using the chick-fil-a can't come in here as a proxy for saying, we don't like his speech. it's not as if -- if chick-fil-a was discriminating, if chick-fil-a was saying we're not going to let gays or lesbians eat here or work here, they might have something. but hthis is somebody who has a opinion. >> chicago has been trying to get a casino. so sheldon alison has given millions of dollars to republican candidates who don't believe in same-sex marriage. he has supported all kind of different things. so are you telling me an alderman is going to say, i'm not going to allow his casino company to be one of his casinos because of his position? when you go there, you are opening up a whole different can because people give to different causes. >> i don't think this tough call is a tough call. i'm not a lawyer. >> and ron emanuel is also a tyrant and opposed to the first amendment as well. >> i wouldn't say little tyrant. >> tyranny comes in the form of good intentions. i promise you. ahead on "starting point," a new issue of "time" magazine is called how guns won. we'll look at why democrats seem to be treading very slowly when it comes to this controversial issue. that's straight ahead. we're back in a moment. recovery. long-term, bp's made a five hundred million dollar commitment to support scientists studying the environment. and the gulf is open for business - the beaches are beautiful, the seafood is delicious. last year, many areas even reported record tourism seasons. the progress continues... but that doesn't mean our job is done. we're still committed to seeing this through. welcome back, everybody. let's get right to christine romans for the latest jobless numbers, just in. >> good morning. 353,000 unemployment claims filed for the first time last week. that's a big drop from the previous week, with 388,000 claims filed. so that's some improvement. stock futures already up because of positive comments out of europe. so 353,000 jobless claims. controversial cover for "time" magazine this week. the title is "how guns won." the author looks at why democrats are so reluctant to speak about the issue of guns. this morning we talk to michael sure in washington, d.c. thanks for being with us. >> thank you. >> the article lays out why democrats are shy on this issue, and no surprise it comes down ultimately to votes. explain to me how that is when it would seem in some ways counterintuitive. most of the constituents of democrats are for gun control, right? >> well, democrats are for gun control. if you're talking about mild gun control numbers, it polls sometimes 60%, 70%. but democrats don't like to go to these issues for a couple of reasons. one, there have been bad experiences in the past. 1994 election, 1998 congressional elections where the nra went after democrats, especially in red and purple states, rural areas who supported gun control measures. the democrats have learned from experience that even if you have 40% or 50% of your electorate supporting what you're doing, 10% or 20% this is the only issue for them. and there are people who own guns who maybe would support you for other reasons, for economic reasons and other reasons but guns are a defining issue for them. so it's not worth risking that vote. nationally, concern over guns has gone down pretty precipitously since the 1980s. and a lot of that has to do with the decline in crime. in the 1980s, 80% of the country when pollsters asked them would say i want more gun control. now it's down near 40%. it's just not a top issue the way it was before. and the last thing is that president obama right now is in a tough election where he needs to win a lot of these red states. he needs to win places with lots of guns, legal gun owners, legal gun owners like colorado and pennsylvania. so there's a real risk, and not much to gain by going at this issue very hard. >> which is really why it was five days before we heard the president say anything in the wake of this aurora shooting. here is what he said. he said in new orleans on wednesday this. let's play that sound bite, guys. >> i, like most americans, believe that the second amendment guarantees an individual the right to bear arms. i think we recognize the traditions of gun ownership that have passed on from generation to generation. that hunting and shooting are part of a cherished national heritage. but i also believe that a lot of gun owners would agree that ak-47s belong in the hands of soldiers, not in the hands of criminals. >> so that is not exactly going out on a limb. it's sort of the strongest thing we've heard him say, i think, and people were kind of waiting for the vacuum. hearing what mitt romney said, considering his constituency, was not a surprise. how is this going to play out? >> well, i don't think we'll hear much more about it. he was in front of a very friendly audience, national urban league. if you keep playing the clip, he's saying i'm work with both parties to find consensus. he is not saying i'm going to fight for rein statement of the weapons ban. he said i'd like to start a conversation and work with both parties. and something very similar happened after the gabby giffords shooting. the president said very forcefully, we need to have a national conversation about mental health, guns, and we didn't really have a national conversation about those issues. and my expectation is that we're not going to have one before the election. it's possible years forward, reasonable heads can sort of come together and talk about guns in a way that doesn't divide the country. but right now, we're not at that point. >> michael, this week the mayors against illegal guns released a poll taken by a republican pollster of former and current nra members where they talked about significant numbers having some gun control. i'm trying to figure out you're handed a gift, and democrats can't even receive the gift and take advantage of even that poll who republicans love to talk about, frank luntz. >> no. you're absolutely right. if you talk about relatively mild new gun controls, it polls very well. even among gun owners. the problem is in elections, it doesn't play out that way. and there's more to lose for democrats, especially in the states like pennsylvania, ohio, and colorado, than there is to gain by bringing up this issue because you're handing republicans a sound bite. you're handing them, you know, the ability to exaggerate your position and say what this is really about is not just more background checks or mental health checks. this is really about taking away your guns. >> the nra has completely reframed this issue. >> that's right. >> and has kind of burrowed into the consciousness. it's taking away our guns. anything that you talk about, any discussion you have about gun control, always defaults to, they are trying to take away our guns. it's a slippery slope. >> the influence of the nra has almost become an overemphasized point in this debate. >> are you serious? >> the truth is that the nra gives on average low percentages to congressional and senate campaigns. yes, they donate, but the amount to the overall budget of a candidate is miniscule. and by the way, their record of success isn't that great. their guys don't always win. >> will, let me tell you something. that's like somebody saying, look, i don't have to kick buyo butt, but the threat of me kicking your butt works. the threat of the nra coming after you will cause people to say -- >> i grow with you. >> starting in 1994, i think that's true, very much credited for the landslide by republicans in the house. >> but also they have a great strategy. what they dos they don't spend overwhelming amounts of money, but they target congressional districts and they go into those districts and they take out people strategically. >> i suggest you look at the record of success. >> when they do that, it is a very chilling effect. >> it's the influence and the threat of their involvement that scares democrats and republicans. >> it's interesting to see how the discussion will go. every time there's a mass shooting, we have this conversation, and then i think because of the political influence it all peters out. white house correspondent for "time" magazine, michael, always nice to see you. one day you can come join us in person. still ahead this morning on "starting point," phil mickelson, golf legend, will tell you how he's taking his talents from the green to help out in the classroom straight ahead. [ male announcer ] if you want play in the same sandbox as luxury s.u.v.s, it helps to have an interior full of hand-selected wood trim and soft premium leather... and it doesn't hurt to have a selec-terrain dial that truly performs. ♪ the lines, the cost, the hassle. ♪ express yourself [ female announcer ] why not try coffee-mate? with over 25 delicious flavors for a fraction of the cost of the coffee house. add your flavor, with coffee-mate, from nestle. welcome back, everybody. you're watching "starting point." it's a project called the josh project. and it was created by a woman in tribute to her son who drowned. meet wanda butts, today's cnn hero. >> jess went to spend the night with friends. i had no clue that they were coming to bird lake. right about here is where josh was. where the raft capsized and he went down. very hard for me to believe that just like that, my son had drowned, and he was gone. my father, he instilled in us the fear of water. and so i in turn didn't take my son around water. children don't have to drown. my name is wanda butts. i save lives by providing swimming lessons and water safety skills. >> jacob kendrick. >> african-american children are three times more likely to drown than white children. that's why we started the josh project, to educate families about the importance of being water safe. >> take the ring, right towards the victim. >> many parents don't know how to swim. >> he was afraid of the water. he was the first in my family to learn how to swim. and he's come a long way from not liking water in his face to getting ducked under. >> do you like it? all right. >> i'm so happy to see that so many of them have learned how to swim. good job! that's one life we saved. it takes me back to josh and how the tragedy was turned into triumph and it makes me happy. >> the josh project! coming up next, pro golfer phil mickelson will join us. that's next. >> lefty. what is that? it's you! it's me? alright emma, i know it's not your favorite but it's time for your medicine, okay? you ready? one, two, three. [ both ] ♪ emma, emma bo-bemma ♪ banana-fana-fo-femma ♪ fee-fi-fo-femma ♪ em-ma very good sweety, how do you feel? good. yeah? you did a really good job, okay? [ female announcer ] to nurses everywhere, thank you, from johnson & johnson. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] you've been years in the making. and there are many years ahead. join the millions of members who've chosen an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. go long. do you have any idea where you're going ? wherever the wind takes me. this is so off course. nature can surprise you sometimes... next time, you drive. next time, signal your turn. ...that's why we got a subaru. love wherever the road takes you. d phil mickelson has three green jackets and 40 victories on the pga tour. one of the game's most beloved players, lefty, was inducted into the world's golf hall of fame this year. but golf isn't his only passion. helping kids learn math and science is also a very big part of his life. phil and his wife amy founded the mickelson exxon teachers academy program, where fourth and fifth grade teachers can hone their own skills and better learn how to teach kids science and math. thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> it's unusual to have people like you to be passionate about stem. >> well, i am dealing constantly with the engineering at calloway developing new product. and you have to have some type of science understanding to be able to head in the right direction. whether it's aerodynamics of a golf ball, whether it's the load of a shaft, whether it's the moment of inertia or center of gravity on a wood. all of these variables come into play. it's fascinating for me to work with the engineering at calloway on new equipment. >> so when he is playing golf, roland is really working on science. >> absolutely. >> essentially the game of golf stoked your passion for science and engineering? >> i have always been inquisitive as to how things work, why things work. so i have always enjoyed understanding math and science. and i have always applied it to golf. when bubba hit that shot at the masters this year on number 10, he had to hit a hook with a wedge. he closed the face and was able to get a better grip on the ball and create hook spin by closing the face as a left-handed golfer. if you're a right-handed player hitting that shot, you might not have been able to go for the green because you'd have to open the face so much you wouldn't get enough coverage on the ball, enough gripping, enough friction on the ball to create that side spin. and that might not have been an option for a right-handed player. and so little -- understanding little things like that can help with decision making processes on the golf course. >> and of course most people who play golf, you're dealing with wind, you're dealing with water. even the club is different. lies. all of the stuff like that. the average person's lie, is like, i can't even hit the ball. but that is still a huge part, distance, all a huge part of the game. >> it is. distance and control is one of the most important things as a good player to be effective and to be able to win. and it varies from hour to hour, based on temperature. obviously, it varies city to city based on altitude. >> heat. >> that's it. when it gets hot at 12:00, the ball goes about 10 to 15 yards further than at 7:30 when it's cooler. >> how come you focus on teachers? a lot of times when people are trying to get interest in math and science they focus on the kids to get a passion for the sciences. and your focus is to help the teachers have the passion. >> well, it is. we have found that third through fifth grade students are losing interest, and that the teachers that are teaching science, 93% of them do not have any type of certificate or accreditation or degree. >> just in that age group or all the way through? >> in that age group. what we find is that they don't teach it with the same passion. they teach it straight out of the textbook. if we can give them new techniques and skills to better understand, that passion is going to translate over into their students. that's why we are trying to target third through fifth grade. that's where the kids are losing some interest. and also where the teachers aren't as confident in their abilities. so our academy is really geared towards that. and talking to a number of companies, exxon mobil hires 18,000 scientists and engineers. and talking to a number of companies, they can't fill their job requirement in the math and sciences. >> it's such a typical story and such a tragedy, especially in a down economy when those jobs really could be filled. but students can't do the work. >> if the students were to go into a stem field, they would have a job immediately after college. >> of course we started the show off talking about this school in virginia that was math and science, in the hope of trying to get more folks into it as well. tiger woods has learning centers. your academy. you two going to hook up when it comes to educating children? >> well, he's doing a phenomenal job in getting good young kids an opportunity to thrive in the world through education. and we're trying to do similar things. and i have a lot of respect for what he's done for the game of golf and in helping these kids. >> are you going to focus specifically on women? as bad as the numbers are, it's even worse if you look at the subset of girls in that third, fourth, fifth grade. what's a strategy for that? >> well, it's almost as though it's not cool to be knowledgeable and competent in science if you're a girl. so we're trying to change that trend and that momentum. and i think a lot of it stems, again, from the teachers. if they can teach in a way that their passion comes across, if they can make it cool, then the kids are going to want to learn and know that it's cool to learn and be knowledgeable in math and science. >> did you want to be an astronaut when you were little? >> a little bit. i was always fascinated by space. i always talked to my kids about space before they went to bed. and that's been an area that we have always been interested in. >> that's what your wife says about you. you're an astronaut trapped in a golfer's body. >> there's worse things. >> i'm a left-handed player as well. any extra clubs laying around, help a brother out. just saying. >> phil mickelson, so great to have you. you can just ignore that side right there. >> might as well ask. he's sitting here. >> great to have you this morning. we appreciate it. we have to take a break. 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